Etching apparatus for cinematographic films



Jan. 4 1927. 1,613,303

J. M. ANDREWS ETCHING APPARATUS FOR CINEMA'I'OGRAPHIC FILMS Qrigi l Filed Nov. 19. 1921 Patented 4, 1927. Q

UNITED STA ES PATENT OFFICE.

JARVIS M. ANDREWS, WOLLASTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY HESNE AS- SIQNMENTS, TO TECENIGOLOR MOTION PICTURECORPORATION, OF BOSTON, MAS- SACHUSETTS, A-CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Ercnme arrarmrus roa cmnma'roenernrc Firms.

Original application filed November 19, 1921, Serial No. 516,357. Divided and this application filed September 24, 1925. Serial No. 58,287. a

. This invention relates to a device for directingastream of fluid against a cinematographic .Jfilm and more particularly to an air nozzle 'for blowing the superficial liquid from a film as it is fed past the nozzle in a wetstate. -While-the invention may be used in many processes'where a film is fed from a wet stage to-a d' ing stage, as from a washing stage to a rying stage, 1t 1s particularly applicable to an etching process such as disclosed .in application Ser. No.

516,357 ,lfiled Nov. 19,1921, now Patent No.-

1,559,145, granted October 27 1925, ofwhich this is a division. i

The. invention consists in .the improvements hereinafter claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawingsin which,- 1

- Fig. 1*is an elevational View of the lower partof the'device;

n Fig. 1 is a similar elevational view of the upper part of the device; a v r Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2of F g. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on lme 3-3 of Flg. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-.4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on Fi re. 6;-

ig. 6' is'a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 2. The particular embodiment of-the. invention chosen for the purpose of illustration and overflowsat 9.

is shown as applied to apparatus for con-.

tinuous'ly developing, bleaching and fixing cinematographic films. Such apparatus or-, dinarily comprises a series of tanks through which .the film is continuouslyfed in succession.- In Fig. 1 two such tanks are shown at land 2, the. others to the right being omitted. The film enters'tank' 1 overrollers 3, thence passes downwardly around roller 4, thence upwardl over. roller 5,'thence downwardly 1ntai1k2'over roller 6, and thence upwardly to roller '7 where it passes to the left into a drying chamber orto other filmtreating ap aratus. According to the present inven 'on t e tankl may be a wash tank and ank 2 an etching .tank, the latter tank being provided with an overflow 8 which communicates with the tank at the bottom The liquid nozzle above referred to'pref-r er-ably, comprises an orifice 10 located at the edge of the film so asto. direct the liquid onto the from the side, the is sides, the orifice is preferably so positioned that it is bisected'by the plane of the film, as shown in Fig. 5. whereby the liquid isdirected to. both sides of the film from the same orifice. In order to position the film relatively to the orifice, guides are provided adjacent the orifice and in the preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings these guidesare mounted upon and formed integrally with .the nozzle, the guides being in theform of flanges 11 and 12 forming ,a channel 13 therebetween to receive the film. These flanges are preferably shaped and positioned to bear upon the film only at points 14 and 15, thereb to center the. film. relatively to the ori ce without engaging the film throughout a very large area. The flanges 11 and 12 preferably extend only to the sprocket holes of the film, the position of whic is indicated at 16 in Fig. 2 spas not to rub against the image-bearing portion of the film. By inclining the nozzle relative to the path of the film, as shown in Fig. 5, the ends of the flanges serve as 'the bearings for guiding the film and the orifices are inclined to the path of thefilm so that an adequate uantity of wateris directed to both side's of t e film even though the-film is somewhat warped and therefore does not lie wholly in the plane defined by the bearing edges 14 and 15. In the particular embodiment illustrated, identical n ozzles are provided on opposite sides of the film, andthey connect through branched ducts 17 and -1 8.with a common supply pipe/19. The nozzles 10 are preferably located directly above'the etching tank 2 so that the the etching progresses in the tank 2, but in' any event the distance is suflicientlygreat so that the film is completely etched by the time it reaches the nozzles. I

A suitable etching liquid comprises water at a temperature of about 120 F. the water being supplied at such a rate that a stream flows own ch side of the fi m from the nozzles to the tank 2, the stream being rela- 1 0. The preferred construction of the air nozzles comprises two tubular members cX- tending in parallel relationship along opposite sides of the film, and joined at 21 with the two branches 22 of larger tube 23, the end of which is formed as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. to fit the ends of the tubes 20. On the inner side of the tubes 20 are longitudinal slots 24 facing the opposite sides of the film. Fitting within the tubes 20 with a snug sliding fit, are tubes 25 which are provided with narrow longitudinal slots 26. The tubes 25 are open at their lower ends (Fig. 2) and closed at their upper ends, the upper ends being provided with handles 27 which project beyond the open ends of the outer tubes 20. By means of handles 27 the inner tubes may be rotated to adjust the direction of slots 26, thereby to adjust the angularity of the jet of air from the nozzles to the film. Ordinarilythe slots 26 are directed obliquely of the film contrary to the direction of film travel but good results and sometimes better results can be obtained by makin the slots face the film perpendicularly or by inclining the slots slightly in the direction of film travel, theliquid being rolled downwardly at the line of intersection of the planes of thefilm and jet with less tendency to splash.

An improved feature of the invention involves the oblique arrangement of the air nozzles relatively to the film, the nozzles being oblique relatively to both the'transverse and longitudinal dimensions of the film, the preferred degree of angularity be-. ing illustrated in Fig. 2. In addition to this oblique disposition of the tubes the slots 26 are preferably positioned by means of the handles 27 so that the air jets are directed downwardly and to the left (Fig. 2). With this arrangement substantially all of the superficial liquid is blown off the film and at the same time the streakson the film, caused by prior air nozzles, are avoided. If the tubes 20 extended horizontally parallel to the transverse dimensions of the film so as to blow the water downwardly along the film, there would be a tendency for streaks longitudinally of the film to appear after the film is dr Ifthe air nozzles were located at one e ge of the film to blow horizontally across the'film, there would be a tendency toward unequal removal of the superficial liquid and in s mecases a considerable amount of the liquid might not be blown off, especially near the edge of the film opposite to the air nozzles.

The operation of the apparatus is as followsfThe film is fed continuously through the apparatus as aforesaid. As the film passes through the tank 2, the gelatin to be etched away is softened and may be etched with water at approximately 120 F. As the film passes upwardly from the surface of the body of liquid in tank 2 to the nozzles 10, both sides of the film are subjected to the action of arapidly flowing stream of hot water. This stream of water is naturally agitated by its own flow and is further agitated by the sprocket holes which tend to divert the water inwardly from both sides toward the center thereby keeping it thoroughly stirred. The result is that the soft gelatin is rapidly carried away and the film, after assing nozzles 10, is entirely cleansed of so t gelatin leaving the hard gelatin in sharp relief. Inasmuch as the marginal portions of the film are never exposed, the gelatin on the margins entirely washes away leaving perfectly clean celluloid outside the sprocket holes. After the film passes nozzles 10 it passes between nozzles 20 where the liquid superficially adhering to the film is blown oil so that the film ma be quickly dried when subsequently passe through a drying chamber; The tank 2 may be continuously replenished with hot water by a pipe opening thereinto either at the top or bottom or any intermediate position, but ordinarily the water flowing downwardly along the film from the nozzles 10 is sulficient for this purpose.

' By virtue of the above-described method clean and the amount of hot water reuire for the purpose is only a small fraction of the amount required by other lmown processes.

I claim: i

1. In a cinematographic device, the combination of means for continuously advancing a film along a. predetermined path, and an elongate nozzle extending approximately arallel to the film but obliquely to the patli of the film, the outlet of the nozzle being adapted to be directed toward the film.

2. In a cinematographic device, the combination of means for continuously advancing a film along apredetermined path, and.

' an elongate nozzle extending approximately parallel to the film but obliquely to the path of the film, the outlet of the nozzle being adapted to be directed in a direction transverse of the film and counter to the direction of film advance.

3. In a cinematographic device, the combination of means or continuously advancing'a'fihn along a predetermined path, and

away to some extent, this tank being filled and apparatus, the film is etched rapidly and an elongate fiozzle extendin along one side of the film, the outlet of t e riozzle being angularly related to the film and being angularly adjustable relatively thereto.

4. In a cinematographic device, the combination of means for continuously advancbination of means for continuously advancf ing the film along a predetermined path, and atubular nozzle exteridingalong one side of the film, the nozzle having a longitudinal slot along one side and being rotatable about its axis to adjust the angularity of the slot relativelyto the film.

6. In a cinematographic device, the combination of means for continuously advancing a film along a predetermined path, and an elon ate nozzle extending along one side of the 1m, the nozzle comprising two telescoped tubes rotatable relative to each other, one tube having a wide slot along one side and the other tube having a narrower slot movable transversely of the wide slot upon relative rotation of the tubes.

7. A nozzle of the character described comprising two telescoped tubes rotatable relative to each other, one tube having a this 22nd day of September, 1925.

JARVIS M. ANDREWS. 

